Tweddle Continuous Improvement

Good article on waste elimination

Just make things flow as smoothly and efficiently as you can envision. Develop the flow as though a single person were performing the entire process from start to finish. Make it as smooth as possible for this person. No back tracking, no awkward motions. Everything is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.

This would be a great approach for the integration of creative / content management / DID exercise that you have been working on.

True visual management goes far beyond having a clean and well-organized factory. Visual management provides real-time information and feedback regarding the status of the plant. It is a company-wide "nervous system" that allows all employees to understand how they affect the factory's overall performance.

But let's be clear what we are striving for. With every improvement we make, we want to converge on the idea of: Batch size of one. Lead time of zero. Zero waste of resources.

"I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker." - Helen Keller

Who could facilitate a Lego game for us?  I would love to participate.

There is no reason that we can't try.

Oh, and "senior management" . . . would be nice to do the game and video the event for company distribution. A fun learning tool -- which reminds me of what a vendor said yesterday: "People learn best when playing games."

This is an interesting concept. They seem to be taking the use of layered process audits in an different direction. I wonder if this would cause us to re-write some of our audits?

The moral? Don't let preconceived notions of what can't be done limit you, whether in football, in life, or in a kaizen.

Excellent point. Very few things at Tweddle carry more preconceived notions than kaizen

Throw out all of your fixed ideas about how to do things. 2. Think of how the new method will work - not how it won't. 3. Don't accept excuses. Totally deny the status quo. 4. Don't seek perfection. A 50 percent implementation rate is fine as long as it's done on the spot. 5. Correct mistakes the moment they're found. 6. Don't spend a lot of money on improvements. 7. Problems give you a chance to use your brain. 8. Ask "why?" at least five times until you find the root cause. 9. Ten people's ideas are better than one person's. 10. Improvement knows no limit.

gemba-based observers should be able to understand, unassisted, what a given object, process or system is. If relevant, a visual control should also share the subject's purpose, and related operating rules, including a definition of the normal condition (and often, what to do in response to an abnormal condition).

Toast just keeps on giving when it comes to lean training!

"Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."

  You may have to take the "back-door" approach and look for the opposite of waste: work. Work is the value-added activity in the operation.  It is everything that waste is not.  So when you can't see the waste, find the work.

How do Lean organizations develop their employees if Lean considers expenditure of resources other than for creation of value to be wasteful? First, a true lean organization isn't obsessed with waste. If anything, they are obsessed with value.  Waste is anything more than the absolutely minimum required to add value to a product or service; waste is not just anything that doesn't create value. I can't imagine much value can be delivered without the right skills and capabilities in the organization. Therefore, I don't think there is any conflict between developing employees and waste elimination. Second, a lean organization thinks about the total system, and thinks long term. There is a constant pursuit of the knowledge between cause and effect. All of that means that there is a strong understanding of the performance impact (effect) of more talented and skilled people (cause). Third, people think too narrowly about how they develop their people that they think it all must cost dollars, because it is all about training. I'm not suggesting that you should stop training; I've rarely seen an organization that is over-trained. What I'm suggesting is that the increase in developing people come from coaching and experimentation. These two sources of development are very powerful when done consistently and for the long-term.

no matter if you choose to seek certification or not… I encourage you to do something. In the end I really believe that if you constantly seek knowledge with a humble heart while working to help others… you will not go wrong.

"Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great." - John D. Rockefeller An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen.  Kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement or change for the better.  As no process can ever be declared perfect, there is always room for improvement.  Kaizen involves building on gains by continuing experimentation and innovation. The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as: Standardize process Measure the standardized process Analyze measurements against requirements Innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity Standardize the new, improved process Continue cycle infinitely Kaizen involves every employee - from upper management to operators. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste.  The western philosophy is often summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, the Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."

"Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great." - John D. Rockefeller

"Dust accumulates to form a mountain." (chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru). While this may not be geologically correct, it carries a deep truth that lean practitioners will recognize through experience. Taken positively, this is the essential spirit of kaizen, that small changes repeated over time result in massive improvements. Taken negatively, it means that small, persistent losses result in huge losses.

Another great Fastcap video!